The Misadventures of Mari
by aflowerinthegrass
Summary: Oh no! Mari has lost Riku's money and now has to get a job to earn it back! Can she do it without Riku finding out, or Sora blurting the truth when under pressure? Another one shot starring my OC. Please read and review! Riku/OC


A/N Thanks to the readers who read and reviewed my last one shot! This idea came to me a few hours ago and I couldn't type it fast enough! I plan to make a sequel to 'Why Is It All I Do Is Wait' but that will take a little time.

Warning: I am not to sure about the ending, so if it is lame I'm sorry, and yes 'Chester's' is based off of Chucky Cheese. Please no flames, only constructive criticism.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts sadly, but I do own Mari!  
Mari: Greeeaaatttt...  
Me: Hey, if it wasn't for me you wouldn't exist! Or even have a non-existence like the Nobodies.  
Mari: Nevermind!  
Me: That's what I thought!

Mari's jaw dropped as the boy across from her smirked. She stared at the table and stuttered.

"Y-y-you must've cheated somehow!" Mari picked up the card deck and looked to see if it was marked. Jak smirked again and shook his head.

"No, I didn't. You're just a horrible gambler. Now pay up…" Mari pouted and handed him the munny she had in her wallet, muttering things about 'stupid swindling teenage boys' and glared at him.

"If I find out you cheated me, you are going to regret it." Jak held his hands up in mock fear.

"Ooooo, I'm soooo scared. What is the wittle girl gonna do to me?" Mari's temper flared as she nearly punched the greasy slime ball in the face, but Sora put his hand on her arm.

"He's not worth it Mari. Let it go." Mari nodded and turned to leave, but another hand on her arm stopped her.

"That's not all the munny you have!" Jak said greedily. Mari looked at the munny in her pocket.

"That munny's not mine. I'm holding it for a friend!" Jak shook his head, not believing a word she said.

"Uh-huh, right. Hand it over." Mari jerked her arm away from him.

"No way!" Jak crossed his arms.

"You bet all your munny, but you didn't specify if the munny originally belonged to you or not, so hand it over or I'll just go find your 'friend' and tell him what you did!" If Mari was mad before, now she was furious. She gave Jak the look of death and handed him the rest of the munny.

"Fine take it, I don't want to be near a pig like you anyways. Oh, by the way, some cologne and shampoo would be good for you?" Jak looked at Mari confused.

"Whaddya' mean?" Mari turned around with a smirk on her face.

"Oh nothing. I just thought you might want to get rid of your 'greasy' look before all the farmers in town think they lost one of their pigs." Jak's eyes widened and he was about to yell something but Sora and Mari took off. Once they reached the other side of the school Sora doubled over panting.

"Why," Sora panted heavily, "do I always get sucked into your problems?" Mari scoffed.

"Tch, you wanted to get some quick munny too! I heard about the date you're taking Kairi on!" Sora blushed and gave Mari the evil eye.

"Whatever!" A look of realization dawned on Sora's face.

"Wait a minute…if that munny you were holding wasn't mine, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't Kairi's does that mean…" Sora looked at Mari as she rubbed the back of her head innocently. "You didn't…"

"Eheheh, I'm not sure what you're talking about Sora." Mari gulped as Sora's face slowly turned purple.

"Oh my God! That was Riku's munny wasn't it?! You know how he is about munny!" Mari nodded quickly, feeling panic start to worm into her mind.

"Yes I know that Sora! Why do you think I argued so much with piggy back there?!" Mari's face suddenly turned pale.

"Oh my God, RIKU'S GOING TO KILL ME!!! No wait, he's going to KILL ME, THEN REINCARNATE ME, KILL ME AGAIN, THEN DANCE THE CAN CAN ON MY GRAVE!!! YOU'VE GOTTA HELP ME SORA!!!" Mari dropped to her knees and looked at Sora desperately. Sora sweatdropped and thought, 'Okay, that was a little too dramatic…Riku's not going to be THAT mad.'

"Calm down Mari! It's not like he lost a lot of munny." Mari bit her bottom lip nervously, as if she was hiding something. Sora raised an eyebrow.

"Right? It wasn't a lot of munny, RIGHT?!" Mari pushed her index fingers together over and over again, saying nothing at all. Sora began to panic.

"Mari…how much munny was it?" Mari kept pushing her index fingers together. Sora leaned down to where Mari was sitting and looked her straight in the eyes.

"How much munny was it?" Mari's face went paler and she muttered incoherent words.

"Hiv eshend uny." Sora leaned in closer.

"What was that?"

"HIV ESHEND UNY!!" Mari murmured louder. Sora looked at her completely lost.

"WHAT?!"

"FIVE THOUSAND MUNNY YOU IDIOT!!!!!!" Mari screamed, knocking Sora onto his butt. Sora's jaw dropped and started muttering gibberish, and Mari winced, as his gibberish got louder and louder.

"He, who, wha, heh, uhh, FIVE THOUSAND MUNNY?! WHY IN THE HECK DID RIKU GIVE YOU FIVE THOUSAND MUNNY?!?!?!?!" Mari started pushing her index fingers together again.

"Well, eheheh, it's a funny story actually," Sora raised an eyebrow, "OKAY its not that funny, but someone broke into Riku's locker today but Riku had his munny with him at the time. Riku had to go to gym and asked me to hold the munny for him until the end of school. And no, I don't know why he was carrying around five thousand munny! SO DON'T ASK ME!!!!" Sora rubbed his forehead exasperated.

"Why, of all days, did he have to give you munny? WHY?!" Sora looked up to the sky and shook his fist.

"WHY MUST YOU TORMENT ME SO?!?!" Sora screamed at the sky and a few onlookers stared at him like he was insane. Of course Sora didn't notice, because he was too busy waving his arms madly at a sweatdropping Mari.

"Uh…Sora?" Sora kept pacing, and waving his arms madly.

"AND ONCE HE FINDS OUT I WAS THERE WHEN YOU LOST THE MUNNY HE'S GOING TO KILL ME TOO! AND I'LL NEVER GET TO GO ON THAT DATE WITH KAIRI!!!" Sora stopped in front of Mari.

"DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I'VE BEEN SAVING MUNNY FOR THIS DATE?? DO YOU?!?!" Mari backed away from her crazed friend.

"Eheheh, I imagine you've been saving for a while, but you've got to help me!" Sora scoffed.

"Tch, why should I?" Mari looked at Sora with puppy dog eyes.

"Because you love me? AND I'll tell Kairi about the incident in first grade…" Mari trailed off. Sora's jaw dropped yet again.

"You wouldn't…" Mari raised an eyebrow deviously.

"Oh I would. I'm desperate, I have no shame!" Sora huffed.

"Well there's a shock. You must be desperate all the time then." Mari was about to protest, but stopped when she realized she probably deserved it.

"Whatever, now how are you going to help me?" Sora sat down on the ground Indian style, and placed his hand on his chin, like the Thinker statue. He stayed in that position for a few minutes until his face lit up.

"I know what you can do!" Mari leaned forward on her knees eagerly.

"Uh-huh! What?" Sora smirked.

"You'll have to get a job…" Mari knew then that her life had ended.

Mari stared at the building in front of her incredulously. Sora placed his hands behind his head and grinned.

"So what do ya think? Am I a great friend or what?" Mari continued staring at the building in shock. Sora looked at her and waved his hand in front of her face.

"Mari? MAAARRRRIIII???? HEEEEELLLLLLLOOOOOO??????" Mari shook her head and blinked.

"You have got to be kidding me…" Sora winced and laughed uneasily.

"Aw c'mon! This is the best paying job in town! Eight hundred and fifty a day PLUS tips! At that rate, you'll only have to work here a week, to get the munny you need to pay Riku back!" Mari sighed heavily.

"But why _**here**_?" Sora rubbed the back of his head.

"Whaddaya' mean? You used to love this place!" Mari looked at Sora with an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, WHEN I WAS SIX!!!" Sora winced and backed away slowly.

"Mari, it was either this, or cleaning Ms. Baxter's house…" Mari shuddered as she thought of the frightening old lady.

"Fine…let's just get this over with." Sora clapped his hand on Mari's back roughly, and she oofed.

"That's the spirit!" Sora grabbed Mari's hand and half pulled/half dragged Mari into the building. Mari and Sora were greeted by a girl in her mid twenties, chewing on a piece of gum boredly, with a hat shaped like a mouse on top of her head.

"Welcome to Chester's," the girl said in a monotone, "where the fun never ends. How may I help you?" Mari felt as if her life was slowly sinking in a downwards spiral. Sora noticed his friend's depressing, slightly unstable aura coming off of her and decided to speak for her.

"Uh, yeah. She," Sora pushed Mari towards the bored, gum chewing, hostess, "is here to apply for the _entertainment_ position." The hostess stopped chewing her gum and looked at Mari sadly.

"All right. Come with me." The hostess grabbed Mari and Mari looked over her shoulder at Sora despairingly. Sora waved at Mari as she walked away.

"Don't worry Mari! Everything will be fine! I'll even take care of Riku for you!" A loud, despaired wail echoed through the restaurant/arcade and Sora winced.

"Heh yeah, Mari may not believe me now, but she will!" A few kids stared at Sora as if he was crazy and went back to their arcade games.

Gum-chewing girl, whose real name Mari found out was Trish, handed a costume to Mari and Mari looked around the room; then settled on the costume.

"Uh, what's that for?" Trish sighed.

"This is the costume you have to wear. Say hello to Chester." Mari looked at the hideous mouse costume, with the disproportionate mouse head that looked like someone had used it as a kickball. Mari looked at Trish with a confused look.

"I thought I was applying for the 'entertainment' position." Trish sighed yet again.

"This is the 'entertainment' position. You get paid to wear this costume for five hours, and entertain the brats that come in here and their well paying parents." Mari crinkled her nose at the smell coming from the costume.

"Blech! What is that smell?" Trish handed the costume to Mari.

"The last person who wore that costume, turned out to be a chain smoker. Have fun!" Trish walked out of the back room quickly, leaving Mari with a disgusted look on her face. Mari looked at the mouse head and sighed.

"I almost think Riku killing me would be better than this…" she said dryly. Mari changed into the costume, vowing to never again bet anything with munny again, and walked back into the restaurant. A barrage of kids greeted her as she walked in and Mari hung her head.

"This is going to be a long week…"

Five Days Later…

Mari rushed out of class, and pulled all her books out of her locker. She glanced around nervously, and sighed in relief when she didn't see Riku. Her eyes widened when she saw Riku and Sora walking towards her and she started speed walking to the exit.

"Hey Mari!" Riku yelled across the hall. "Where are you going?" Mari looked over her shoulder and grinned falsely.

"Uh, I have that thing, with the person, and I'm late so I'll see ya later!" With that, Mari sprinted out of the door leaving a very confused Riku behind.

"What's up with her? I haven't seen her all week." Not that he would admit it, but Riku missed having her around all the time. Sora laughed nervously.

"U-uh, I don't know! She probably has a lot on her plate that's all." Riku nodded, but was starting to become suspicious. Sora and Mari had been acting weird all week, and wanted to know what was going on. Kairi walked up to the boys and smiled sweetly at them.

"Hey Sora! Hey Riku! Oh by the way Sora, did you get the munny for-"

"Munny?!?! Who said anything about munny?!?!" Sora squeaked. Kairi and Riku stared at him confused.

"You did." Riku said slowly. He raised an eyebrow at Sora. "Why?" Sora's eyes widened and he waved his hands frantically.

"N-no reason! It's not like I have any issue with m-munny, because I don't! I mean, who has issues with munny? Well except for some people who get thrown into their friends problems because their friend is stupid enough to get herself into a jam, and blackmailed the unfortunate person who happened to be friends with the person who had the issue!" Sora said quickly. Riku and Kairi stared at Sora with a blank look. Sora's face twitched as he tried to grin. Riku was now sure that something was going on. He pulled Sora to the side and Sora oofed as he hit the wall.

"What are you hiding Sora?" Sora laughed nervously, and rubbed the back of his head.

"HEHEHEH!! WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!?!? THERE'S ABSOLUTELY NOTHING GOING ON!!!!" Riku stared Sora down unblinkingly. Sora kept laughing nervously.

"HEHEHEH!!! STOP STARING AT ME!!! I TOLD YOU NOTHING IS GOING ON!!!" Riku raised an eyebrow.

"You're a terrible liar Sora. Fine, if you won't tell me, I'll just go tell Kairi about the incident in first grade…" Sora's jaw dropped. HE WAS BEING BLACKMAILED BY TWO OF HIS BEST FRIENDS FOR THE SAME THING!!! Riku turned around and walked away slowly, smirking as Sora argued with himself.

"But I, you wouldn't! Oh who am I kidding he would! Why do things like this keep happening to me? If only Mari hadn't of-" Riku turned around quickly.

"If only Mari hadn't what?" Sora's eyes widened, knowing he was in trouble now.

"Mari?" he squeaked. "Did I say Mari? HEHEHEH WHOOPS!! THERE'S NOTHING GOING ON WITH HER!! WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THAT?!?!" Sora's eye twitched as Riku smirked.

"Sora…" Sora looked around frantically and suddenly threw his hands up in the air.

"OKAY OKAY FINE! MARILOSTALLYOURFIVETHOUSANDMUNNYANDSHEISWORKINGATCHESTER'SSOSHECOULDEARNTHEMUNNYBACKWITHOUTYOUKNOWING!!! AND SHE MADE ME SWEAR NOT TO TELL YOU OR SHE WOULD TELL KAIRI WHAT HAPPENED IN FIRST GRADE, BUT NOW YOU'RE ABOUT TO TELL HER AND ALL THE HARD WORK I PUT INTO HELPING MARI OUT WILL BE FOR NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Sora panted loudly as Riku stood there, stunned. Riku stood there silently for five minutes while Sora slowly calmed down. Sora laughed and placed his hands behind his head.

"Whew! It feels good to get that off my chest!" Riku looked at Sora and he gulped. Sora knew that look, and Mari was in deep trouble.

"She lost my munny?" Sora started to panic again.

"Well, she didn't lose it per say, she just kinda got it taken from her." Riku turned on his heel, with one destination on his mind. He was going to Chester's.

Riku strode determined towards Chester's, ignoring all of Sora's protests. Sora jumped in front of Riku and tried to push him back, but all he did was slide against the ground. Riku knocked Sora away and walked faster when he saw the Chester's sign. Sora took off ahead of Riku and held his hands out to his side.

"STOP RIKU!!! YOU CAN'T GO IN THERE UNTIL I TELL YOU SOMETHING!!!" Riku stopped.

"What?!" Sora scrambled in his mind for something, ANYTHING, that would calm Riku down.

"She didn't mean to lose your munny Riku! She's been working here all week so she could pay you back! And you know how much she hates this place!" Riku paused to think about Sora's words and an amused smile started to creep onto his face. As he kept thinking about it, he started to snicker. Sora watched in amazement as that one snicker turned into full- blown laughter. Riku laughed so hard he clutched his sides. Once he calmed down he shook his head wryly.

"Mari, Mari, Mari." Riku shook his head. "Can you even go a day without getting into some sort of mess?" Riku smiled as he thought, 'But that's one of the reasons I like you so much.' Sora felt very confused, one minute Riku was furious, then the next he was laughing crazily.

"You can go home Sora. You're probably exhausted from keeping this all a secret." Sora slumped over.

"Yeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssssssssss…" Sora groaned. As Riku reached the door, Sora asked him a question.

"If you're not there to kill her, what are you going to do?" Riku looked over at Sora and smirked.

"Just teaching her a lesson, that's all." Sora sighed heavily and walked to his house, wanting nothing but to lie on his bed and sleep. Riku walked into Chester's and his nose wrinkled at the smell of spilled soda and burnt pizza. 'This is what Mari's dealt with all week?' he thought disgusted. The hostess greeted him bored.

"Welcome to Chester's, where the fun never ends. How may I help you?"

"Uh, is Mari working today?" The hostess was about to say something but was cut off as CHESTER tackled her to the ground. Now Riku had seen some pretty crazy things, but this had to be in his top ten, maybe even top five. He wondered what the mascot had against the hostess but decided not to ask.

Mari couldn't believe she just tackled Trish. She mumbled an apology to Trish and stood up. 'I am going to kill Sora…' Mari thought to herself. She deepened her voice and straightened her costume.

"Uh, there's no Mari working here. I think you might want to try Peter's Palace next door!" Riku raised an eyebrow.

"No, I heard she is working here, and I'm not leaving here until I've seen her." Mari sweatdropped and inched away slowly.

"Uh-huh. Well, in that case," Mari drawled in her goofy deep voice, "I'll just go and find her! I'll be right back!" Mari saluted Riku and took off running. Riku watched the mascot in amazement.

"Well that was weird…" he said. His eyes widened when it finally dawned on him.

"Idiot!" Riku kicked himself mentally and tried to find where Mari had went off to. Mari peeked over her shoulder (which was very hard to do with the mouse head on) and gasped when she saw Riku beginning to follow her. As she rounded a corner, she took off and ducked under a table. A boy and his father looked at each other, confused as to why Chester was hiding under their table. The boy looked under the table.

"Chester? Why are you hiding under there?" Mari's eyes widened when she saw Riku turn the corner.

"Uh, I'm playing hide and go seek! I don't want that guy," Mari pointed to Riku, "to find me, or I'll lose. You don't want Chester to lose do you?" The boy looked thoughtful for a second and suddenly yelled.

"HEY MISTER!! CHESTER'S UNDER HERE!!!" Mari muttered things about, 'stupid brats' and crawled out from under the table quickly. What she didn't notice was the ear of the mouse head got caught on the table, and the head slipped off her head just as she came face to face with Riku. Riku smirked and Mari's eyes widened.

"You're not working today huh?" Mari noticed her head felt lighter and jumped when her hand didn't meet the mouse head, but met with her face instead. She backed away slowly, laughing nervously all the while.

"Eheheheheh, what are you doing here Riku?" Riku placed his hand on his chin thoughtfully.

"Oh no reason, oh wait. SOMEONE lost five thousand munny!" Mari backed away faster, not noticing the chair she was approaching.

"About that, IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!! I DIDN'T MEAN TO- AAAAHHHH!!!" Mari screamed as she fell backwards over a chair. Riku caught her around the waist, preventing her from knocking her head on the concrete floor. Mari struggled to get away, but Riku's arms tightened around her waist. 'That's it. I'm dead. Unless I find away out of…wait a minute!' Mari grinned mischievously as a plan formed in her head. Riku noticed her smile, and prepared himself.

"Can't get away now can you?" Mari widened her eyes flirtatiously. Riku narrowed his eyes, wondering what she was up to. Mari ran her hands up his arms slowly, leaned in towards his ear and whispered.

"What makes you think I want to get away?" Riku's eyes widened nearly to the size of saucers.

"What?" Mari kissed him on the cheek and smirked triumphantly as he let go of her in shock. She sprinted away from him, laughing at his expression.

"HAHA! I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT WORKED!!!" Riku shook his head quickly, and it dawned on him that he had been tricked.

"Why that little…" Mari squealed as she ran away from him. She had almost made it out of the door but stopped when she saw Trish. Mari pulled off the costume with a grin.

"I QUIT!" Trish sighed.

"There's a shock." Mari was about to retort, but realized Riku was close and ran out of the door.

"I'LL PICK UP MY PAYCHECK LATER!!!!!!!!!" With that, Mari took off, Riku closing in on her quickly. Mari was afraid of what would happen if he caught her again, and kept running until she reached Sora's house. Sora opened the door and groaned when he saw Mari there.

"AW C'MON! Haven't I done enough for you all week?" Mari looked over her shoulder and gasped when she saw Riku close by.

"C'mon Sora! Please let me in!!" Sora looked thoughtful for a second.

"Let me think. NO!" Sora slammed the door on Mari's shocked face.

"That little punk! I'm so going to get him," Riku turned into Sora's yard. "LATER!!" Mari took off again, but didn't get far as Riku grabbed her, and held her to him from behind.

"You thought you could just kiss me and run off like that?" Sora overheard what Riku said and shook his head.

"I seriously need to make new friends…" he said dryly as he ate a sea salt ice cream bar.

"EH? It was only on the cheek! You act like I freaking asked you to marry me!" What Mari didn't notice was Riku wasn't angry at all, and he was doing this just to judge her reaction.

"It doesn't matter!" Mari stared at him incredulously.

"Oh my God! Are you kidding me?" Mari rounded on Riku, and poked her finger into his chest.

"You say all that, after the week I've had? I DID THIS ALL FOR YOU, YOU JERK!!!" Riku grabbed her hand and pulled her close to him, hugging her. Mari sighed and leaned her head against him tired. Riku smiled.

"What is wrong with us? First we're yelling at each other, and next thing we're hugging?" Mari said, though her words were muffled slightly by his shirt. Riku laughed.

"I don't know. At least we're not boring like most couples." Mari looked up at Riku with an eyebrow raised.

"Wait, a couple? Since when did we become a couple?" Riku's face turned slightly red and he started muttering nervously.

"Well I didn't mean, we don't have to, I just thought…" Mari grinned and leaned against him again.

"I'm just kidding Riku." Riku sighed in relief.

"Don't do that!" Mari grinned and nodded.

"Fine. Oh my God what is that?" Riku looked down at his shirt confused.

FLICK

Mari laughed and Riku glared down at her.

"AHAHAHA! THAT NEVER GETS OLD!!!" Riku smirked and messed up Mari's hair. Mari glared at him and tried to fix her hair.

"Jerk." She muttered as she smoothed out all the tangles that had formed. Riku laughed and held her hand as he walked Mari back to her house.

A/N Soo that was it! Hope you liked it! Please review if you have a chance! =)


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